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On high-profile issues, Obama keeps a low profile

On hot issues that Democrats and Republicans have found cause to
fret about - from spending reductions to state labor disputes -
President Barack Obama is keeping a low profile.

Democrats such as Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia want him
more publicly engaged in budget negotiations in Congress; some
lawmakers want him to denounce Republican proposed program cuts.

Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and others in the party want him to
go to Wisconsin to stand in solidarity with public unions fighting
to retain their bargaining rights.

Some lawmakers in both parties want him to take a greater lead
against Libya's Moammar Gadhafi.

But the White House sees no upside in outspokenness.

"There is a very strong gravitational pull in this town to try
to drag the president to every single political skirmish and news
story," said White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer.

Pfeiffer said Obama has enough issues on his agenda and said the
White House doesn't believe the public wants the president weighing
in on an array of subjects.

"They want him leading the country; they don't want him serving
as a cable commentator for the issue of the day," he said.

At a news conference Friday, Obama defended the role he has
played in seeking a compromise on spending cuts in the current
federal budget to avoid a government shutdown. But he made it clear
that resolving the impasse rests mainly with congressional leaders.
"This is an appropriations task," he said, putting the issue
firmly in Congress' domain.

Manchin said an agreement could only be reached if Obama led the
negotiations. "And, right now - that is not happening," he said.

But Obama noted that he has spoken to congressional leaders
"about how they should approach this budget problem."

That doesn't preclude a White House role.

White House officials point to the negotiations in December that
produced a deal with Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky
on extending Bush-era tax rates as a template for other deals. But
unlike the tax deal, when both sides got something they wanted, the
debate over spending would require both to give something up while
gaining little.

While Democrats have attacked the Republican spending cuts as
cruel or heartless, Obama has avoided such loaded language. He has
drawn a line at education spending, saying he would not support
cuts that reduce money for schools or college tuition.

"What I've done is, every day I talk to my team," the
president said, responding directly to criticism that he has been
absent from the debate. "I give them instructions in terms of how
they can participate in the negotiations, indicate what's
acceptable, indicate what's not acceptable."

On the Wisconsin labor dispute, Obama initially appeared to be
stepping into that fight when he told a Milwaukee television
station that GOP Gov. Scott Walker's effort to make it harder for
public employees to engage in collective bargaining "seems like
more of an assault on unions." Around the same time, his political
arm at the Democratic National Committee, Organizing for America,
coordinated with unions that were mobilizing demonstrators.

But the DNC has played down its role, and Obama has left most of
the criticism to his spokesman, Jay Carney.

The Wisconsin Legislature this past week passed the collective
bargaining restrictions and Walker signed the measure into law
Friday.

Ellison, together with liberal commentators and some union
leaders, demanded that Obama go to the state in support of the
teachers and other public sector workers. But White House officials
believe the demonstrators have made the best case on their own and
point to public opinion surveys that indicated support for
bargaining rights.

Republicans already were portraying Obama as a tool of labor for
his remarks to the Wisconsin television station and for the
logistical assistance that his political arm had supplied. White
House officials say a higher profile on the issue by the president
would have been counterproductive and could have interfered with a
naturally occurring protest.

"In Wisconsin, it's been a much more organic movement there,"
said David DiMartino, a Democratic political consultant and former
Senate staffer. "The White House doesn't need to get involved."

The bipartisan criticism of Obama on Libya has less to do with
low profile rhetoric - the president has been vocal in his demand
that Gadhafi step down - than with the direction of the president's
policy.

Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joe
Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, have called for the United
States to impose a no-fly zone over Libyan airspace.

Administration officials have shown little enthusiasm for such a
step. They don't want to act unilaterally and would only consider
it if it had widespread international support. As important, they
point out enforcing a no-fly zone would require military action,
including attacks on Libyan anti-aircraft defenses.

Asked at his news conference if he would use any means necessary
to force Gadhafi's removal, Obama recited the steps already taken,
including what he called "the largest financial seizure of assets
in our history."

As for military action, he said: "Anytime I send United States
forces into a potentially hostile situation, there are risks
involved and there are consequences. And it is my job as president
to make sure that we have considered all those risks.

"It's also important from a political perspective to, as much
as possible, maintain the strong international coalition that we
have right now."